Fake Snake Advice

Is it true that snakes won't go where geraniums grow? There has never been a snake anywhere near my geraniums, but I am only one person in a world of flowers.

-- Snakeless in Chula

And a hippo's never been near your geraniums. And the research elves have never been near your geraniums. Wonder what that means? Anyway, don't count on posies to keep you from being snakebit. The snakes-geraniums business is an old, old bit of folk wisdom. Unfortunately, it came from some very dumb folk. It's kind of a perky rhyme, but otherwise, no clue why lives on after hundreds of years, since there's not a shred of truth to it. Maybe kept alive by a particularly crafty geranium salesman.